As the old man lay dying on the side of the road he summoned enough energy to tell me his tragic story of distrust gone wrong. It started with his personal philosophy that trust was a dangerous thing. After he had accumulated a sizable fortune he became worried that established investment companies would steal it all. After all he had heard stories.

So he hired a distant cousin who it was claimed dropped out of college to play the stock market and was making lots of money. The cousin lost all the old man’s investment.

Then the old man became ill and worried that the dishonest medical profession was not to be trusted so he went to a homeopathic practitioner.

Upset with the counselor and the practitioner he hired a lawyer who never tried a case but wasn’t part of the legal establishment. The lawyer lost his case and was later disbarred.

But at least I had my Social Security and Medicare, he said. Don’t tell me, I said, you voted for Donald Trump because he wasn’t a politician because you can’t trust politicians and he promised to protect your Social Security and Medicare.